Concept Development

Independent study

Note: I worked with student Rudy Valle in this 5 week course on the following assignments in 2011.

Assignment You have been hired to create a new Cover Art design for a video game (of your choice). The client is requesting the environmental time frame of the game to be changed, while the characters in the game remain the same.

RV: The attached image (right) belongs to the Box art for the video game called "Mass Effect 2" released for the X-Box 360. This cover includes three of the main characters in a futuristic environment. They are holding guns and wearing futuristic body armor. The closest character is a human male running with a rifle. In the background there is a woman holding a pistol and an alien holding big gun. They all appear to be friendly and working together. I propose to change the setting to an ancient Mayan temple and alter the heroes' clothing and armor to match the time period. The guns will be replaced with ancient clubs, slings, swords or any other fitting items of the time period. This cover is selling the idea of team based action. The new cover will not change this aspect of the original. The new cover will have our heroes in an ancient environment but they will still be working together. The rebuilt cover will also keep the same personalities of the characters of the original artwork. However, every other part of the art will be completely altered. The characters will be Mayans and the alien will remain an alien accept he will be dressed as a Mayan warrior. I think the parody aspect of the project will be lost if anything other than the setting/time period is changed. Although it won't break any rules to change the characters into enemies, I think it would be funny to match the characteristics already set by the original artwork. This also brings up the point about the mood of the final artwork. While it will be humorous to see the characters in another time period, the artwork will not be drawn in a humorous way. What I mean is, I plan on drawing them with accurate and well researched attire while still maintaining the semi-realistic comic book style of the original.

Assignment Create 4 small hand thumbnail sketches showing solution options for your Environmental Redesign Project from Week 1. Your thumbnail sketches can include the characters from the video game or just be the environment background sketches without the characters. Make your sketches approximately 3" x 5" on sheets of 8.5" x 11" paper. You should be able to fit two on each sheet. Indicate the top and bottom of each sketch, and add in Word Associations to each image.

I have attached the sketches and the word associations. I did some searching for Mayan warrior armor and clothing. The male characters are based on photographs of Mayan celebratory garb. The female character is a mash up of styles because I could not find any legitimate looking female Mayan warrior photographs (not surprising). I was hesitant to change the faces from the original artwork but I agree the characters would benefit from ethnic features. I will change their faces (except the alien) to fit the time period. You also mentioned the idealized nature of the original characters. I, too, felt the character body types were a too modern to fit into ancient times. Again, I was hesitant to change them due to the nature of the assignment. I will update the the entire characters to fit into the time period.

Assignment Using the feedback to your thumbnail sketches, choose the best design and refine into a finished hand sketch of the environmental scene. Include the keywords (Word Associations) with the drawing.

Keywords; shadow, form, figures, composition. I tried for a more ethnic face on the main character. I also cut down on the bulk of his body in order to match the expected body type of the time period. RV

Assignment Refine your concept into a digital format

Note: Presented side-by-side with the original artwork for comparison

Assignment Color studies

I made the color changes and arranged the images into a single document. After trying out different color schemes I went back and addressed the perspective issue you mentioned. I added more rocks to cover up the knee so it looks more like the lead character is stepping up out of a pit, or running up an incline. I also tweaked the facial features slightly to try for a more ethnic look. I gave his nose a bit more "hook" and rounded the cheeks. The updated version is in the final color study in the original colors. The versions with the altered colors are made from the old file.

Assignment Character redesign/Humanoid, plant, animal

Brazil

I am sticking with the Mayan theme. I am replacing the alien character with a ancient robot from Earth named Brazil. He is a being built of such advanced technology that he is a god to the Mayan people. Brazil, once a flesh and blood human, is now a completely mechanical being who has lived for nearly four thousand years. His ancient extinct people built cites, used nuclear power and traveled in space one thousand years before homo sapiens learned to harvest crops. They were the first intelligent beings that evolved from Earth born primates. His mechanical nature grants him immortality but he lacks the ability to evolve further. He sees mankind as his legacy and yet he will never fully understand them due to losing his own humanity eons ago. He does not realize how much he can alter the history of mankind. Empires have risen, cities crumbled and continents conquered over the words he has spoken. He seems oblivious to the fact that he is a God to mankind and those who kneel before him do so out of worship and awe. Once again he has influenced mankind in the worst possible way. The heroes of the video game must fight to stop a conflict that Brazil has inadvertently started.

Description

He is a machine that has no distinguishable limbs. There is a torso of sorts and a head but the rest of the body is a mesh of tiny machines. These machines form a dense fluid like body that never rests. The body spreads and oozes around and yet, is solid like stone. He emits high amounts of radiation and so he must be careful when he is around the delicate flesh of humans. His voice is booming and nerve racking to the ears. When he speaks, his statements are broadcast to every machine in the area, including the implants of humans. His presence is maddening, deafening, and blinding. He is nothing less than a living God.

Assignment Digitally render character redesign with texture

Final Combine your Environmental and Character Redesigns into one image for a final Portfolio quality piece.

The goal of this project was to convert the cover art of any video game into another time period. As with most searches for information these days, I started with Google. I did a general search for video game cover art and found many images. The one that caught my eye was the Mass Effect 2 cover which had three characters and an interesting background. The game Mass Effect 2 is set in the distant future and its adventures span the known universe. Going for the most extreme change in setting as I could think of, I opted to change the distant future into the distant past. My plan was to bring the Mass Effect 2 characters into the ancient Mayan culture.
After deciding on the Mayan theme, I searched Google for images of Mayan warriors. I found photographs of recreated costumes worn to celebrate the Mayan culture in Mexico and South America. I also found many photos of Mayan warriors dressed only in a loin cloth and covered in tatoos. Some of there looked to be ceremonial in nature and not something a warrior would wear into battle. However, I based my designs on these more interesting and eye catching uniforms than the "loincloth & spear" photos.

Version 1

There are three characters in the original image that I had to convert into Mayan warriors. The first was the lead hero character. He was the relatively easy to convert because he had an action pose and he was of similar body type to the typical Mayan male warrior. I simply drew in some ancient weapons in his hands and changed his clothes and he was done. The second character was the female lead character of the game. I could not find any photos of female Mayan warriors from which to create her outfit, armor, or weapons. I did find some sketches created by other artists. However, in the end, I decided to simply adapt the "loincloth & spear" look and add in bones and jewelery. Though I would not say her final appearance in strictly Mayan, I don't think her clothing is out of place at all. A female warrior is out of place in that culture to begin with so there are really no rules to how she must look. Finally, the third character on the Mass Effect 2 cover is the alien. He was nearly as easy to convert as the male lead character. I found a photo of a Mayan warrior/shaman type character standing in the background of a wedding photo. I drew in this outfit directly onto the alien. The alien in the original artwork is completely covered in armor so I had to redesign his body. I gave him a humanoid body and put his oversized head directly in the middle of his chest. He looked a bit too human until I colored his whole body orange to match the original artwork.
For the background, I researched and drew a Mayan temple and some trees. The characters take up a lot of real estate in the image so the only real detail in the background is found in the temple. The photos of temples I found don't show how the temples may have looked thousands of years ago. I added some markings around the top of the pyramid but I honestly don't know what kind of marking or decorations would have been placed there. I attempted adding some blood to the temple but it became too cluttered in an already limited amount of space on the image.

Version 2

Based on feedback from the first render, I made some revisions. I gave the lead character more ethnic facial features and slimmed down his body. The first version had a pro-wrestler look which was out of place. I added texture and detail to his weapons, armor and clothing. I also put in more details like spikes on his arm ban, feathers on his club, and more color based on new photographs from Google. The female was enlarged by 50% and moved to reform the overall composition. I changed the colors of her clothing. Both the male and female lead had their skin tones updated. The Alien was completely redesigned into a massive robot that predates the Mayan culture by several thousand years. This keeps with the sci-I nature of the source and it adds a character that is within the realm of possibility. Did an ancient technological culture influence the Mayans with knowledge about space and time and get mistaken for gods? Probably not, but it is possible, however unlikely. The last bit of detail added to the second version was in the temple. The temple was drawn twice its original width and given a more three dimensional look. The position of the temple was changed to fit in the new version of the alien/robot and it was given a two pixel blur to add depth to the image.
I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed challenging myself to draw and paint new things. Rudy Valle